Jake Coombs

Dry January

January is over. We did it. To make it a bit more challenging for myself, I decided to commit to Dry January. For those that don't know what it is, it's giving up alcohol completely for the month of January.

I've been drinking 'regularly' since I was 18, so for about 7 years or so now. I wouldn't say that I'm a big drinker, I drink on nights out and have the odd one with friends at the pub, but don't drink on my own or anything, so I didn't think it would be too much of a challenge for me. I also had a few others around me who wanted to do it and are bigger drinkers than I am, so I wanted to join in for a bit of solidarity.

I was interested to see what the effects of Dry Jan would be on me. I thought my skin may clear up and maybe I'd feel a bit better in the mornings on the weekend. But the first thing that jumped out at me was just how much of my regular social activity involved drinking. Going to the pub after work on a Thursday for the odd one, going out on a Saturday night, having a pint before watching a Football match, it really put it into perspective how much I was drinking, more than I initially thought.

It also showed how much I was spending on alcohol. Given the average pint in London is about £6 these days, I'd say I was spending about £30 a week at least on average! So over the whole month of Jan, I'd saved myself over £120, probably more if you compare it to December!

In terms of physical and mental effects on me, I was right mostly in my predictions. I have been feeling a lot more with it mentally overall this month, especially with the reputation that January has for being one of the toughest months for mental health. I've been feeling more alert and awake for longer throughout the day, and been able to get up and go to the gym in the morning on a regular basis. Physically, I've also noticed the improvements. I've dropped a little bit in body fat, but also been seeing improved cognition in the football that I've been playing recently. Whether or not it's actually related I'm not sure, I'm not a scientist!

Will I do it again? Yes, I think I will. Dry Jan has made me realise, I do not miss alcohol much at all. Obviously there's the few occasions where it would have made things a bit more fun, but, in general, I think I'm able to go without the odd pint and still enjoy myself. After all, I shouldn't be having to have alcohol to have a good time (that's a lot of haves for one sentence). One final thing to add, is that Lucky Saint, the alcohol-free beer, is actually pretty good (in my opinion).